Her Worst Fear
by Goooone
Summary: No longer is Hermione's boggart failing her classes. But the truth will embarass more than herself and how can she even be sure he feels the same way?


A/N: Here's my author's note as per my beta instructed. (SHES INSANE RUN!!!!!) ....Right well...This is a oneshot about Hermione's boggart which is not the McGonagall telling her she failed anymore. R&R ppl! ONESHOT! I know that I've been doing a bunch of oneshots lately but a longer fic is in the works. I'm just not ready for the commitment. lol...  
  
Disclaimer: If I was JKR and I owned Harry Potter I wouldn't be writing this. I'd be working on the next book if I didn't want to get lynched by my fans for the delay. JUST KIDDING JKR!

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The first day of their sixth year at Hogwarts was going well so far. They did not have Potions anymore, as they did not get into N.E.W.T.S. and the next class up was N.E.W.T.S. Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
  
Hermione looked at Harry and asked, "Who do you think the new Professor is?"  
  
Harry shrugged. "No clue. He or she is probably one of the members of the Order."  
  
Ron agreed. "Yeah, we need more teachers from the Order here. Snape may be in it, but I don't think I trust him."  
  
"I trust him," Harry said, sounding as if he didn't quite believe he was saying them.  
  
"What?!" Ron was in disbelief. "How can you trust Snape? He used to be a Death Eater."  
  
"That doesn't mean anything, Ron." Hermione said. Agreeing with Harry, she nodded her head up and down.  
  
Before she could speak, however, Harry piped up again. "He's not my favorite guy in the world, but I trust him to help us if it's life or death. Remember when he saved me from Quirrell in first year? And then in third year when he tried to protect us from Lupin when he turned into a werewolf?"  
  
"That's right, Ron, just because he used to be a Death Eater doesn't mean he couldn't change."  
  
Ron was surprised by his friends' defense of Snape, especially Harry, who had expressed his distaste for the teacher continuously. And Hermione seemed as if she was always on Harry's side nowadays. And it wasn't helping his hopes of a romantic relationship with her. He had had a huge crush on her fourth year and the feelings were no less now. He had revealed this to Harry and found out that Harry felt the same way. They had had an intellectual conversation, which was a rare thing. It was somewhat of a pact.  
  
When they both realized that they had feelings for her they promised they would do nothing out of the ordinary to gain her affection. And once somebody gained them, the other would stand by them completely and remain best friends. They had also decided that if someone else happened to gain her affections, then they would team up to end that relationship and greatly injure her suitor. He chuckled at that thought.  
  
Hermione looked at him strangely. "What's funny, Ron?"  
  
"N-nothing."  
  
"Right. Well, time to go to D.A.D.A."  
  
Everyone huddled around the back room, awaiting their new teacher. There were no desks here, which signified a practical class. That would be great after the horrible year with that Umbridge woman.  
  
After making them wait a few minutes, Kingsley Shacklebolt walked in, with a large suitcase in hand. Without wasting a second, he started talking. "In this suitcase resides a boggart. I'm aware that you have done this already with Professor Lupin but its always fun. And one can never get enough practice."  
  
Cheers went around the class. After all, they would know everyone else's greatest fear and they all enjoyed seeing their nightmares in a comic manner. It seemed everyone was happy except for Hermione.  
  
Hermione looked up at the suitcase and tried to back up to the back of the room. If she were picked then she would have to focus on Voldemort or dementors or anything but her greatest fear. If her greatest fear were revealed she wouldn't be the only one embarrassed. And she still didn't think she could face it, boggart or not.  
  
Ron was up first and she watched as he dispatched the usual spider with ease. Other students came and went until only Harry and she were left. She knew why Harry was staying back. He wasn't sure whether or not a dementor would come or if Voldemort would pop into the classroom. And they couldn't have that happening, could they? The only pragmatic way out of it was for her to go first.  
  
She took a deep breath and stepped up. She focused on how afraid she was of he parents' death, of Voldemort, of Bellatrix Lestrange, of Antonin Dolohov, of Death Eaters and the Dark Mark. The boggart hesitated for a second, stuck in its previous form of a dancing skeleton but its senses seemingly plowed through her defenses and took on the shape of Harry Potter.  
  
Harry looked on as the boggart took his shape. He was hurt. Was she afraid of him? But then it started talking. No, talking would be putting it lightly. He was yelling.  
  
"Love you? Hermione? A _Mudblood_? Hah. You have ugly teeth, ugly hair, no curves, and you're a bossy little bookworm. All you have ever done is complain and lecture. You're ugly and don't know the first thing about being a woman. What makes you even think I would choose you over pretty girls like Lavender or Cho? I COULD NEVER LOVE YOU, HERMIONE, AND I NEVER WILL. FROM NOW ON, OUR FRIENDSHIP IS OVER. I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN. I'LL NEVER LOVE YOU, YOU UGLY GIRL!!"  
  
"I l-love you, Harry."  
  
He saw Hermione raise her wand, hand quivering. Her eyes were beginning to tear. She was crying now in full force as she gave up and ran out of the room.  
  
Rage filled Harry as he watched his manifestation hurl insults at his Hermione. And unspoken power unfurled through him with such intensity he could hardly contain it. He raised his wand and his manifestation burst into flame and flew backwards as a ball of flame. The boggart would not be destroyed that easily though. As it was getting back up Harry nailed it with quite a few Riddikulus'. What manifested was a dementor prancing around in a woman's dress holding the skirt up to reveal polka dotted shoes.  
  
The entire class was laughing. The laughter was both directed at Hermione and the boggart but the boggart was destroyed nevertheless in a puff of smoke. Thank Merlin Slytherin wasn't present. Everyone kept laughing. That is, until someone's robes burst into flame. Harry didn't see who it was but the entire class got the message. Ron, who looked downcast rather than the fuming red Harry had assumed, was now holding them back. "Thanks, Ron."  
  
He ran through the corridors thinking of where he could find her. He checked her favorite spot in the library. She wasn't there. He checked in the common room. She wasn't there, either. Running along, he heard a quiet sobbing somewhere. He focused on it. It was in...he gasped. She was in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. It was dangerous in there. The sewage was estimated to explode there any moment, creatures lurked there that lurked nowhere else in Hogwarts. The Chamber of Secrets still bore horrible secrets and dangers.  
  
He crept in quietly, not wanting to alarm her. She was in one of the stalls, sobbing her heart out. The conspicuous absence of Moaning Myrtle disturbed him. She was always here. But he decided she was probably in the Prefect's bathroom mocking the Mermaid portrait.  
  
He came closer to Hermione, the woman he loved. It hurt him that she was crying so. She was in the saddest state he had ever seen her, worse than she had been that day in first year when he had first agreed with Ron that she was annoying. He realized that it was his disapproval that hurt her then, too. How long had she felt this way about him? He only realized it last year.  
  
"Hermione? Hermione? It's me, Harry. Are you okay?"  
  
"I'm so sorry Harry. I didn't mean to...I just...I love you, Harry and there's nothing anyone can do about it. I know you...y-y-you probably don't feel the same way but...I don't want this to ruin our friendship. P-please don't..."  
  
"Hermione, listen, I would never say the stuff the boggart told you. In fact, I've felt the same way about you as you do me. You have beautiful hair and a great body. You're beautiful in every way. There's nothing I would change about you. Not your bossiness or your love of knowledge. I can't love someone unless I like them the way they are. And I assure you that I love you."  
  
She looked up. "Really?" "Yes." With that, she fell into his arms.  
  
Ron sat in the common room, waiting for his friends to return. He was crushed, but a Weasley always kept his word. Except for perhaps Fred and George, but that was beside the point. They came in almost half an hour later, arm in arm, Hermione smiling despite the evidence that she had been crying.  
  
_Be strong_, he told himself. He couldn't get emotional over this. He knew he didn't love her and that it was just a crush but he was still hurt. It was hard to find out that the one you had your sights on loved another. _He_ would get over her. Harry would not. He also could tell that Harry did love her. He had loved her since first year and had not known it. The way he protected her and always stood by her proved that point again and again.  
  
When they saw Ron, they immediately stopped walking so close together and walked over to him.  
  
"So, Ron. Plan to stay by that pact?"  
  
"You'd better believe it," he choked out. He took the time to gather his voice and strength and then stood up, puffing his chest out. "A Weasley doesn't go back on his word. Besides, I'm amazing. I'll find someone else."  
  
Hermione feigned a hurt face and then they all laughed.  
  
"But I've gotta hand it to you, 'Mione. I always thought that you would end up forming McGonagall telling you that you just failed everything and were a pathetic witch would be you're boggart. But I guess you are a girl at heart, aren't you?"  
  
"Ron! What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
Harry just laughed. "I love you, 'Mione." HHeHe crept in quiet


End file.
